Alliteration

Alliteration is a literary device in which the same sound appears at the beginning of two or more consecutive words.

Common examples of alliterations include the tongue-twisters "Round and round the rugged rock the ragged rascal ran," and "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers."

An alliteration can also be formed by vowels making the same sound appearing in the first syllable of consecutive words. For example, "gun nut" is also considered an alliteration.

Alliteration can serve as a mnemonic device. As alliterative phrases are often memorable, they are frequently used in news headlines, corporate business names, literary titles, advertising, buzzwords, nursery rhymes, poetry, and tongue twisters. In speech, an alliteration can be used for comic effect.

Examples

Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers.
A peck of pickled peppers,
Peter Piper picked
If Peter Piper picked a peck
of pickled peppers,
Where's the peck
of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

See also

• Alliterative verse
• Tautogram
• Figure of speech
• Rhetoric
• Literary Consonance
• Assonance
• Rhyming
• Cynghanedd

External links

• Wiktionary-based alliteration generator
• Links on alliteration from the Open Directory Project